#i went with mechafrieza instead of full-power like he was in the game

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (198/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball,  which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made  on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: This story takes place about 1000 years before  66 years after the events of Dragon Ball Z.

     [April 20, 850 Age.   Toki Toki City.]  

On the lawn of the Time Nest, Trunks stood by helplessly while the Supreme Kai of Time finished her story.  

"--And once the Blood Rubies mission was complete," she said, "she stayed in the isolation ward until she was fully healed."

"So that's how the Ruby Loop got settled," Trunks said.   "I heard it was resolved, but no one could tell me who did it, or when.  But wait... you're saying the isolation ward is under the Time Vault?"  

"That's right," Chronoa said.  

"But I was keeping watch over the Time Vault that whole time," Trunks said. "You and Luffa were there all along and I had no idea!"

"I told you," Trunks," Chronoa said, "it's designed to contain and conceal anomalies so they don't interfere with the flow of history.  If you could have sensed a second Luffa from two weeks in the future, what good would that be?"

"Well, yeah," Trunks said.  He sheepishly rubbed his hand over the back of his head.   "But I feel a little silly standing guard like that when you were so close by."

She smiled warmly at him.  "Don't say that," she assured him.   "I needed that time to study Demigra's power, and Luffa had to recover from that fight with Lord Beerus."

"I suppose you're right," Trunks said.   "She was in pretty rough shape.  I still don't understand why she was so insistent on getting Beerus to knock her out like that."

"Hah!  I wouldn't expect you to understand, Trunks."

They turned to find Luffa approaching them from the direction of the small capsule house which served as Chronoa's personal residence.  

"Ah, right on time," Chronoa said.   Looking to Trunks she added: "See, I told you it'd be all right.  From your perspective she was only gone a few minutes, and now she's back at full health."

"What about Lord Beerus?" Luffa asked.  "Is he still here?"

"No," Trunks said.  "He agreed to let the Time Patrol handle Demigra while he left to take a nap."

"Perfect!" Luffa said.   She raised her hands in front of her face and began flexing her fingers excitedly.  "He's a pretty classy guy and all, but he was beginning to make me nervous. Thanks for keeping Whis occupied while we fought, by the way."

"You were beginning to get nervous?" Trunks asked.  

"I had to get him to take me down in one shot, Trunks," Luffa said, ignoring his question.  "Kakarot used the Yamoshi ritual to try to fight him on even terms, and Lord Beerus still dominated him.   But now that I've experienced that power for myself... well, at least I can wrap my head around it.  I don't know how to surpass it yet, but..."

"Surpass Lord Beerus?!" Trunks said with considerable alarm.  "Don't we have enough to worry about right now?!"

Luffa rolled her eyes and snorted.  "Like I said, Trunks, I didn't expect you to understand.   You might have inherited the Super Saiyan power from your father, but you lack his ambition.   All that Saiyan blood running in your veins, and you treat it like it's just another resource, like that sword on your back."

"You're out of line," Trunks said coldly.

Luffa raised an eyebrow and leaned in towards him.   "Oh, is that so?" she asked.   "And what are you gonna do about it?"

"I'm not taking the bait, Luffa," Trunks shot back.  "I know how much you want to fight another Super Saiyan, but I've got more important things to do than cater to your whims."

"And that just proves my point!" Luffa shouted as she threw her hands up in the air.   "You're so fixated on the objective that you don't notice the opportunities along the way!"

Before they could continue, Chronoa stepped between them and held out her hands.   "Could we please save the bickering for some other time?" she pleaded.   "We're supposed to be on the same side, for crying out loud!"

"Fine, fine," Luffa said.  "I'd think you'd want my input after all the work I've been putting in lately."

"We can talk about it after we settle things with Demigra, okay?" Chronoa said.  "Right now, let's just head inside and-- Oh no..."

She put her hand to her forehead and shut her eyes tightly, as though responding to a sudden headache.

"What's wrong?" Trunks asked.  

Both Saiyans reached out for her, but the Kai shook her head.   "I'm fine," she said, "but we need to get to the Time Vault, now."

********

Even after descending the stair to the Time Vault's vast atrium, Chronoa did not relax until she spotted the Divine Tokitoki Bird perched on one of the stools at the great octagonal table.   The bird's rising warble was enough to satisfy her that he was safe and secure.   Even so, she remained concerned.    

Moments later, Trunks began to share her unease.  "What is that?" Trunks asked.  

"You can sense it now, can't you, Trunks?" Chronoa said.  

"It's an evil power...," Trunks said.   "It's far away, but...!"

"Well, I can't sense anything unusual," Luffa said.

"That's because you're still new to the Time Patrol, Luffa," Chronoa explained.   "Powers like these, acting across time, they're too subtle for most mortals.   The Time Vault is designed to amplify such signals, and Trunks has dealt with such temporal menaces before, so he can pick up these things while inside this room."

"Then what is it?" Luffa asked.  

"I can't tell," Trunks admitted.  "Could it be--?"

"It's Demigra," Chronoa said with a nod.   "He finally escaped from the Crack of Time."

"Oh, right," Luffa said.   "We saw him here in the Time Nest before, but that was just one of his illusions.  I guess the real thing feels different."

"We should alert the Time Patrol," Trunks said.   "Demigra could show up at any moment."

"I'm more worried about how he shows up," Chronoa said.   "He made it clear that he'd seize control of the Time Nest by force, but will he try so sneak inside, or does he think he's powerful enough for a frontal assault?"

"We could just throw open the gates," Luffa suggested.   "We already know he's coming, but at least that way he has to stand and fight in the open."

"Even if that were a wise decision," Trunks said, "I doubt he'd make it that simple for us.  Demigra's been testing and prodding us this whole time. He's waited seventy-five million years for this moment.  He's not going to rush into anything."

"Trunks is right," Chronoa said.   "We need to be ready for anything, even--!"

She suddenly turned and looked to one of the cupboards holding the various scrolls that comprised the Scroll of Eternity.   Even as the Kai raced to the edge of the room, the Divine Tokitoki Bird began to make a shrill cry.  

"Don't tell me there's been another change in history!" Trunks said in disbelief.  

"What?!" Luffa asked.  

After a brief search, Chronoa located the affected scroll and held it up for the others to see.   The parchment glowed with an eerie purple flame, a sign of temporal incursion which had become very familiar to all of them.  

"This doesn't make sense," Luffa said.   "You told us before that he was only changing history to destabilize the seal that was keeping him in the Crack of Time.   But if he's already freed himself, then why bother--?"

"It's a diversion," Trunks said grimly.  "Demigra may not need to cause changes in history anymore, but he knows we still have a duty to repair the damage.  He's trying to exploit that duty to divide our forces."

"Well, if that's his plan, he's picked a fine way to go about it," Chronoa said.  She had returned to the octagonal table, where she unfurled the scroll and pointed at the moving image that appeared on the parchment.

"That's West City!" Trunks said.  "On Earth!"

Luffa recognized the city, as she had visited it in previous Time Patrol missions.  She also recognized the three figures standing in the middle of a busy road.   She had fought each of them at least once before.  

"Frieza," Luffa observed.  "And Cell.  And Majin Buu."  

"That's impossible!" Trunks said.  "They're all supposed to be dead in this time.  I killed Frieza myself!"

"Maybe Demigra plucked them out of other time periods," Luffa suggested.  "I mean, he could do that, couldn't he?"

"He could," Chronoa said, "but if he had, we'd be dealing with four scrolls instead of just one.   I don't know how he managed to do this, but it's clear that he's ready for a fight."  

"This is bad," Trunks said.   "It'll take some serious power to stop those three, and once we send anyone to that era, Demigra will attack Toki Toki City."

"Relax," Luffa said.  "I can handle those three by myself, and still make it back in time to help the rest of you if Demigra shows his face around here."

"You've got to be kidding," Trunks said.   "Kid Buu nearly killed you the last time you fought, and this time he's got backup!"

"That was then," Luffa said.   She began flexing and stretching her arms to prepare herself.   "Let's just say I'm feeling a lot more like my old self since that rumble with Lord Beerus."

"We don't have a choice," Chronoa said.   "We can't afford to send a large  contingent of warriors to deal with West City, so it'll have to be Luffa."  She looked at her with a pleading expression.   "Just try to get back here as quickly as you can."

"Understood," Luffa said with an eager grin.  

"Trunks," Chronoa said.   "I need you to look after Tokitoki.   No matter what, don't let him out of your sight.  Demigra will be sure to go after him."

"Of course," Trunks said.  He turned to look at the Divine Bird, who was preening his tail feathers. Then he looked back at Chronoa and asked: "But wait, where are you going?"

Chronoa had begun to head up the stairs leading to the grounds of the Time Nest. "There's something I need to do while we still have time," she said to them.   I'll rejoin you as soon as I can.   Now carry out your orders!"

She turned and left without another word.  

"You heard her," Luffa said as she approached the scroll.   "And don't worry.   I'll make this quick."

Trunks might have asked Luffa to be careful, but she had already picked up the scroll and vanished into the past before he could speak.  

*******

     [12 September, Age 778.   Earth.]  

Luffa arrived in downtown West City, and immediately knew where to go.   Her targets weren't bothering to hide their power, which was no surprise.   What did concern her was that they weren't actually doing anything.   The images in the Scroll showed them standing in the middle of a road.  This had caused a great deal of panic in the area, but that was all.  

She flew to their exact location in a matter of seconds.  Cell was the first to notice her as she dropped to the street to confront them.

"Ah, there you are!" he said.  He uncrossed his arms and held his fists at his sides ready for battle.   "You see, my little friends?  Our patience has paid off."

"You were expecting me, Cell?" Luffa asked.   "Then we were right.  This was a diversion."

"A diversion?" Frieza spat.   "More like a trap, designed to snare foolish interlopers such as yourself."

There was an electronic quality to Frieza's voice, and as Luffa approached the three of them, she noticed how different he looked from the last time she had seen him.   In his final form, Frieza was a sleek humanoid figure with a thick tail and chalk-white skin.   That was still mostly true, although his lower body, left arm, and parts of his chest and head had been replaced with cybernetic prosthetics.  She had seen this while watching him from the Scroll of Eternity, but assumed this was only armor.  Now, as she drew closer, she could see the deep scars on the flesh that still remained.  

"What the hell happened to you, Frieza?" she asked.  "I guess Kakarot really did a number on you, but I wasn't sure he had it in him."

"You know about Son Goku then?" Frieza asked idly.   "Good, then I shall spare you the exposition and cut straight to the point.  I have come to this wretched planet to destroy it, and to take my revenge on your countryman, Saiyan.   But as eager as I am to get started, circumstances have forced me to stay my hand until you arrived.  I don't see why a filthy monkey like yourself should warrant such restraint, but now that you are here, my vendetta may commence."

"You still don't get it, Frieza?" Cell asked.   "I thought it would have been obvious, but you have been processing a lot of trauma lately.   I'll make it easy for you to follow."  

Cell pointed an accusatory finger at Luffa, who tilted her head to one side in fascination.    "I had just finished regenerating myself after killing Son Goku, and I returned to the battlefield to settle things with his contemptible offspring, when suddenly I found myself here.  Much as I would have enjoyed taking out my frustrations on this worthless city, I felt a compulsion to wait until someone showed up to stop me.    Clearly, someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to use us to destroy this woman, whoever she is."

"Yeah, that just about sums it up," Luffa said with a snort.  "You chumps are just pawns in someone else's game.   Does that bother you, Cell?"

"Not in the slightest," Cell replied.  "I was created by Dr. Gero to destroy his enemies, so this is nothing new for me.  And I've had plenty of experience killing Saiyans, so one more is no great inconvenience.   Indeed, it should be quite entertaining."

"And what about Majin Buu?" Luffa asked.  

"Is that his name?" Cell asked.   He glanced over at the pink child-like creature who had been pouting beside him.   "The little imp hasn't said a word since we arrived here."

Buu glared at Luffa and began to breathe heavily.   Then he started to laugh.    

"You know," Cell said, "this seems like overkill to me.  My design incorporates all the powers of Frieza, which makes him obsolete in this venture, and while the boy has a powerful energy, it shouldn't be necessary.   After all, I made short work of Goku all on my own."

"Silence," Frieza hissed.   "I have endured this farce for long enough, and I will not stand by and watch now that the object of my wrath now stands before me."

Majin Buu made a growl which might have echoed the sentiments of the others.  

"Oh, don't fight over me, boys," Luffa said.  "There's plenty to go around."

With that, she transformed, and the entire street was bathed in the glow of her Super Saiyan aura.   Luffa rushed toward them before they could react, and with a loud cry, she drove her fist into Cell's abdomen.   As he doubled over, she grabbed Frieza's tail, and swung him around, causing his body to collide with Cell's face.   One of their bodies-- probably Frieza's-- made a sickening, muffled crunch upon impact.  

She didn't bother attacking Majin Buu as she knew he would strike first out of the three of them.   Accordingly, she made sure to hit the others so they wouldn't interfere with her defense.   When the pink fist reached her, she had her forearms up just in time to block it.    

"Hrrraaahhh?" Majin Buu asked.  

"Yeah," Luffa said.  "You may not remember the last time we fought, but it doesn't matter, because it's not going to be that easy this time."

She held out her arms and fired a burst of golden ki energy that surrounded Buu like a cage.   Before he could assess the situation, Luffa kicked it up into the air like a soccer ball.    Luffa didn't watch it as it sailed through the air.   She only heard the Doppler effect on Buu's screeching as he sailed uncontrollably over the city.   Instead, she turned to her other opponents.  

Cell was staggering to his feet, just as Luffa expected, but to her surprise, there was no sign of Frieza.

"Impressive," Luffa muttered.  "At least one of you two managed to make this interesting."

Cell coughed up something purple as he clutched his chest.   "You... you're a fool to underestimate me...!" he sputtered.  

"Where'd he go?" Luffa asked sternly.   "Tell me, or I'll make this hurt."

Instead of answering, Cell made a desperate leap towards her.   His face was twisted with rage, though Luffa could see fear behind his pink eyes.   She had surprised him a moment ago.  He hadn't expected to be knocked down so quickly, and he was determined to prove that it was a fluke.  

"Vengeance Cannon," Luffa said as she quickly swung her left arm at Cell and fired a crimson beam from her index and middle finger.   The ki blast hit him at pointblank range.   If Luffa had been an instant slower, her fingers could have touched Cell's face.   Instead, the beam had to travel a few centimeters before it connected with his nose.   The exit wound passed through his lower back, then punched a hole through his right wing.  

Only his momentum carried him forward, and Luffa put a stop to that with a punishing elbow smash to the top of Cell's cranium.   He fell to the asphalt with a loud thud, and after a moment of convulsion, he managed to grasp his face in both hands.   Cell tried to scream, but the wound Luffa had dealt him had made this impractical. At best, he could only make a gurgling wail.  

There was still no sign of Frieza, and so Luffa took to the air to chase after Majin Buu.   She had intended to focus on him anyway, and if Frieza were planning something, it would be simpler to wait for him to come after her.   She found Buu almost exactly where she expected him.   The ki she had surrounded him with had detonated several hundred feet above the city, leaving a cloud of pink mist.    By the time she reached him, the mist had collected itself into several dozen small blobs, which now formed a multitude of tiny Buu copies.   They all snarled in unison when Luffa approached.  

"Demigra really did a number on you this time," Luffa said.   "Before, you would have destroyed this whole city, if not the entire planet.   But now you just wait for me.   Too bad."

The group of mini-Buus flew after Luffa like a swarm of insects.   Even as they attacked, some of them began to combine together to form larger bodies.  

"It's a damn shame, because I wanted to fight the real you!" Luffa said as she dodged and blocked their tiny fists and ki blasts.    "Not this puppet you've become!  Demigra thinks he's made you more focused, but all he's done is to make you predictable!"

She generated a concussive wave with her energy, just strong enough to knock the miniature Buus away, all except for one of the smaller ones, which she grabbed with both hands.   She then flew straight ahead with her arms out in front of her, driving her tiny captive into one of the larger Buus.   The result left both of them haphazardly merged together.  They would have recombined eventually, on their own terms, but by forcing them together before they were ready, Luffa was able to keep these two off-balance.  

"Rrrgh!  Raaaaah!" cried the two Buus, as they flailed their eight limbs helplessly.   The little one almost looked like he was drowning in the other.

The rest of the Buus were already coming after her, but Luffa had enough time for what came next.   Grabbing hold of her victim, she charged her hands with ki, until her fingers glowed like molten iron.   With a savage howl, she released the power into the flesh of both Buus, and they exploded in her grasp.  

When the smoke cleared, there was no trace of them.   The other mini-Buus halted in mid-air and watched with horror as Luffa held out her empty hands.

"Who's next?" she growled.  

Despite Kid Buu's nearly mindless appetite for violence and mayhem, despite Demigra's dark magic forcing him to attack Luffa at all costs, there was still enough sense in the creature to understand what she had just done.  As one, the mini-Buus all stared at her with the same wide-eyed, slack-jawed expression.  

They were afraid.  

As the realization sank in, they quickly joined together and formed a single Kid Buu once more.   The terror in his eyes quickly gave way to outrage.

"You're not as dumb as you look, squirt," Luffa said.   "I just wiped out a decent chunk of you, and you seem to have grown that back already, but how long can you keep that up?"

This form of Majin Buu never seemed to talk, but he seemed to understand her well enough.  He set his teeth and snarled as jets of steam fired from the holes in his head and shoulders.   His eyes, already glowing red from Demigra's magic, now burned with an even more intense hatred.  

"Yeah, you won't be splitting into pieces like that again anytime soon, will you?" Luffa asked.  "You'd better start taking this seriously from here on.   Hah!   Demigra sent you to kill me?  Well I came here to kill you."

She gave him no time to react.   Even before she finished speaking, Luffa rushed toward him, and landed a punch to his abdomen.   She followed with an elbow to the back of the head, then grabbed one of his feet and swung him further into the air.  

It was still dangerous to take Majin Buu for granted.   As confident as she was that she could now defeat him, he was still strong enough to hurt her if she gave him a chance.   If she took too much damage from this fight, it would be playing right into Demigra's plans, so it was vital that she defeat  him as decisively as she could.  

Still, despite the risks, she was grateful for the opportunity.   Challenges like Majin Buu were rare, and now that Frieza and Cell were out of the way, she could really enjoy the battle.   As she chased after Buu, firing bolts of golden ki from her fingertips, Luffa couldn't help but smile.

*******

Below, Cell lay in a heap on the road.  He was still alive, but too badly injured to move. Luffa's attack had punctured his brain, spinal column, and a number of organs unique to his artificial physiology.   He still possessed the ability to regenerate, thanks to the Namekian traits imparted by Piccolo's cells, but regeneration worked properly when growing back an entire body part.   If Luffa had blasted off his entire upper body, as Son Goku had done during their battle at the Cell Games, then he could have regenerated that injury with ease.   As it was, he was badly hurt, without the motor skills necessary to take care of himself.  

As he clumsily flailed his right arm over his head in a desperate effort to take action, a crowd of bystanders gathered around at what they thought was a safe distance.  

"It looks like that Cell monster!" was a common refrain among their chatter.

"But Mister Satan destroyed him years ago!"

"What happened to him?"

Some of them fled, unwilling to wait around for Cell to recover.   Others believed that there could be no safe haven from Cell's power, while others clung to the hope that their hero, Mister Satan, would rescue them again.   As they watched the creature, another figure appeared.   He descended from the sky and landed next to Cell's body.  

"You really blew it, didn't you?" he muttered as he knelt beside Cell.

"Nmmph... Whuhhh?" was all Cell could say in response.  

The crowd was understandably confused.  

"Who in tarnation is this guy?" asked one of the bystanders.   "I didn't think Cell had any friends."  

"He's got that same purple smoke coming off his body," said another.   "They must be working together!"

The man reached into the belt of his fighting clothes, and withdrew a bean, which he stuffed into Cell's mouth.  

"This should get you back on track," he said.   "And then you can finish her off."

Nothing happened for a few seconds.  The man simply remained at Cell's side and waited.   None of the onlookers knew what to make of it.   Then, at last, the purple smoke surrounding Cell's body began to glow more intensely, and he quickly sprang to his feet.    Rising to full height, he examined his hands, flexing his fingers as though making sure they still worked properly.    

"He's alive!" screamed one of the civilians.    

"Yes..." Cell said.   "Alive and well... and ready to return to the battle.   It seems I'm in your debt.   How ironic."

"Don't let it go to your head," the man said.   "Just concentrate on what matters.   Killing her."  

Cell smiled as he spared a moment to revel in the terrified faces in the crowd.  Then he cast his gaze in the direction where Luffa and Majin Buu had gone.    "Yes, of course," he said.  "The mission is all that matters now.  And this time, she will not escape me so easily, Son Gohan."

As Gohan looked in the same direction, his eyes glowed red, matching Cell's.   "This time," he said, "she dies."

 NEXT: A House Divided